My speed run

2004-04-18 04:08:09 pm

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Ready and willing.

Quote from RS Bulleta:

No, you should still watch it, as he put a lot of effort in that. *thinks of Super Metroid with Yoshi's comment and :( 's*

:?

I'm a baaaaad boy... Crying or Very sad

sdkess

2004-04-21 04:45:38 am

I just finished a run of about 29:30. What was the time on yours RS? This one had a lot of things go right, but it still had a fair amount of slop. This was my first completion of the game using some new tricks. I almost forgot to get the HJ boots since I always skipped them before. Embarassed

Anyway, I think 27-28 minutes is definitely doable with a good run and a little luck.

Red Scarlet

2004-04-21 01:27:07 pm

I('d) like to watch (some MP3 runs)

I think it was a low :29, but I can't tell as it's been sent off to Nate now.

On the tape I had a :28 but I got robbed at the end. :/

Red Scarlet

2004-04-21 01:28:47 pm

I('d) like to watch (some MP3 runs)

How many E-tanks do you get now?

sdkess

2004-04-21 03:27:39 pm

Quote from RS Bulleta:

On the tape I had a :28 but I got robbed at the end. :/

I feel your pain. Getting robbed at the end of a nice run is very frustrating.

I got 4 E-tanks on the 29:30-ish run. I'm pretty sure I could get by with 3 though, especially since I've thought of a faster way to safely do a dangerous section which slowed me down before. I'll probably take a couple more cracks at this game to see if I can do any better.

sdkess

2004-09-01 07:06:09 am

I've got 2 videos up for my fastest Metroid speed run. One is normal quality, and the other is high quality for those with fast computers. The high quality vid runs at 60 fps and preserves the rapid sprite flashing effects such as when you're on an elevator. This run finishes in 22 minutes and was actually done months ago. I just never bothered to capture it. Get the vids here:

http://www.vortiginous.com/vids/sdkess-metroid-22min.zip
http://www.vortiginous.com/vids/sdkess-metroid-22min-high.zip

Let me know if there are any problems. This is my first time releasing videos produced on my new hardware so hopefully there aren't any glitches.

Red Scarlet

2004-09-01 05:44:39 pm

I('d) like to watch (some MP3 runs)

Cool, I will try to watch these tonight if I am not busy.

nate

2004-09-01 05:47:44 pm

see, radix? some people can do it without the faq!

sdkess

2004-09-02 07:59:47 am

I just wanted to suggest downloading the High Quality version unless you have a crappy computer. I replaced the original one that was 640x480x60 with a new one that is 352x240x60. The new one looks great and is much less greedy for CPU power and features perfect deinterlacing! Besides, 640x480 is overkill for a VHS capture.

Radix

2004-09-02 01:05:27 pm

Err, you changed the HQ version but the normal is the same?

sdkess

2004-09-02 06:08:51 pm

Yeah, the normal one is the same. I only changed the HQ version because I wasn't really happy with 640x480 (poor performance on all but the best computers), and I also figured out a better deinterlace method.

nate

2004-09-02 06:41:35 pm

which is...?

sdkess

2004-09-02 08:26:16 pm

Ok, you asked for it! The method I used for making my latest video centers around doing as little processing to the video as possible. Too much processing and resizing isn't good...

My old process was to capture at the highest resolution that I could (720x480) and use a Bob filter to deinterlace to 60 fps. I would then resize to the desired final resolution. The problem I have with Bob is that it interpolates line information. When the fields are separated (first step in the Bob process), the result is half vertical resolution (720x240). Bob then interpolates and resizes back up to 480 vertical. This caused a "shimmering" effect that I didn't like. Doing yet another resize after that to a final resolution of 320x240 was something that just didn't set well with me.

For my new process, I captured at 352x480 since my capture card won't allow 320 horizontal. Instead of using a Bob filter, I simply separated the fields. This resulted in a 60 fps video at 352x240 which is basically what I wanted. This method results in a perfectly deinterlaced video with no side effects and no further processing required. All that was left at this point was the editing and compression.

One nice thing about this process is that I can use the same capture to make both the 30 and 60 fps videos without having to resize. If I want 30 fps (for slow computers and smaller file size) then I just throw out the odd fields after the separation. That is (presumably) what my capture card does for 240 vertical resolution captures anyway so it works out great.

I have to capture with the software that came with my card, but I'm using AVISynth in conjunction with VDub to do everything else. I'm really impressed with AVISynth, and it really streamlines the whole process.

Ok, you asked for it! The method I used for making my latest video centers around doing as little processing to the video as possible. Too much processing and resizing isn't good...

My old process was to capture at the highest resolution that I could (720x480) and use a Bob filter to deinterlace to 60 fps. I would then resize to the desired final resolution. The problem I have with Bob is that it interpolates line information. When the fields are separated (first step in the Bob process), the result is half vertical resolution (720x240). Bob then interpolates and resizes back up to 480 vertical. This caused a "shimmering" effect that I didn't like. Doing yet another resize after that to a final resolution of 320x240 was something that just didn't set well with me.

For my new process, I captured at 352x480 since my capture card won't allow 320 horizontal. Instead of using a Bob filter, I simply separated the fields. This resulted in a 60 fps video at 352x240 which is basically what I wanted. This method results in a perfectly deinterlaced video with no side effects and no further processing required. All that was left at this point was the editing and compression.

One nice thing about this process is that I can use the same capture to make both the 30 and 60 fps videos without having to resize. If I want 30 fps (for slow computers and smaller file size) then I just throw out the odd fields after the separation. That is (presumably) what my capture card does for 240 vertical resolution captures anyway so it works out great.

I have to capture with the software that came with my card, but I'm using AVISynth in conjunction with VDub to do everything else. I'm really impressed with AVISynth, and it really streamlines the whole process.

nate

2004-09-02 10:25:53 pm

ah, i gotcha. yeah, i hate to break it to you, but the original metroid (and probably some other original nintendo games) are the only ones that method will work with, since the actual vertical resolution of the games themselves is exactly one half of the total ntsc vertical resolution (480 "pixels"). that means you can deinterlace/double the framerate without any bob as you found out.

for games that don't allow that i suggest the smart bob filter for vdub. with it you can create realistic looking full res full framerate video with virtually none of the annoying side effects of debobbing. if your source has a lot of noise, you may need to adjust the motion detection threshold as described on that page, but imo the default settings are good for almost anything.

thanks for the input.

sdkess

2004-09-03 12:27:30 am

I've tried that exact Smart Bob filter before with VDub and got good results. I was actually getting better results with the same author's DGBob filter for AVISynth. I was using it before I tried the field separation method, and the result was quite good. Another great thing about AVISynth is that it has solid MPEG2 support (MPEG1 doesn't do interlaced video) so I can use it to serve frames directly to VDub without an extra conversion step. VDubMod can load MPEG2 files directly, but it is kind of buggy and doesn't seem to process sound.

I understand what you mean about the limitations of the separating fields method. I had considered that, but since I mainly do only NES it shouldn't be a problem. One thing I can't get to the bottom of is effective VHS resolution and how it works with recording from sources with various resolutions. Every place that I look has a different take on this. Since I almost always capture from a VCR instead of a game system this is important for me to know.

I do know that if I capture a recording from a high res source like GameCube, I'll most likely take my old 720x480 route, DGBob it, and resize afterwards. I doubt that 352 HRes will be enough even from a VHS source, and when it comes to processing and resizing, more pixels is better for top quality. I'll just have to try it and see... "Try it and see" has been the central truth of video capturing that I've learned. :)

I've tried that exact Smart Bob filter before with VDub and got good results. I was actually getting better results with the same author's DGBob filter for AVISynth. I was using it before I tried the field separation method, and the result was quite good. Another great thing about AVISynth is that it has solid MPEG2 support (MPEG1 doesn't do interlaced video) so I can use it to serve frames directly to VDub without an extra conversion step. VDubMod can load MPEG2 files directly, but it is kind of buggy and doesn't seem to process sound.

I understand what you mean about the limitations of the separating fields method. I had considered that, but since I mainly do only NES it shouldn't be a problem. One thing I can't get to the bottom of is effective VHS resolution and how it works with recording from sources with various resolutions. Every place that I look has a different take on this. Since I almost always capture from a VCR instead of a game system this is important for me to know.

I do know that if I capture a recording from a high res source like GameCube, I'll most likely take my old 720x480 route, DGBob it, and resize afterwards. I doubt that 352 HRes will be enough even from a VHS source, and when it comes to processing and resizing, more pixels is better for top quality. I'll just have to try it and see... "Try it and see" has been the central truth of video capturing that I've learned. :)

Red Scarlet

2004-09-05 12:33:47 am

I('d) like to watch (some MP3 runs)

Cool vid.

W2G

sdkess

2004-09-06 06:52:16 am

Thanks Red Scarlet. I'm glad you liked the video! I was hoping to get a better time, but I got tired of being unlucky on missile pickups...